Cain
Velasquez could be sidelined until late 2014. | Dave
Mandel/Sherdog.com

UFC heavyweight champion Cain
Velasquez announced this week that he underwent successful
shoulder surgery, tweeting a post-operative picture of himself on
Wednesday.

“My shoulder surgery yesterday went well,” Velasquez wrote. “Can't
wait to be back at it!”

Velasquez had the labrum in his left shoulder repaired, according
to Wednesday night’s report on “UFC Tonight,” which also speculated
that the champ could be sidelined until late 2014.

The American Kickboxing Academy standout injured the shoulder
during his one-sided rubber match with Junior dos
Santos this past October. The
UFC 166 confrontation saw the champion dominate “Cigano” for
more than 23 minutes, inflicting continual damage on the challenger
before scoring a fifth-round technical knockout.

Velasquez previously injured his other shoulder in 2010, when he
tore his right rotator cuff during a title-winning performance
against Brock
Lesnar. That injury kept Velasquez out of action for more than
a year and preceded the champion’s lone career defeat, when he was
knocked out by dos Santos in his November 2011 return. The
31-year-old rebounded from that setback to earn four straight wins,
however, scoring a pair of wins over both Antonio
Silva and dos Santos to reclaim the top spot in the heavyweight
division.